Jamie
by BeautyKilledTheBeast1226
Summary: The Reagan family is changed forever. In more than one way.


"This is Officer Jamie Reagan. My partner and I are in pursuit of armed robbery suspect, passing 53rd Avenue along Broadway. Requesting immediate backup!"

He'd been on the clock for 19 long damn hours. His shift was an hour away from being over and a guy who had just knocked over a diner in Brooklyn ran right past him and Janko as the call came over the radio. Adrenaline was the only thing keeping him going at this late hour, but even with that, he was running on fumes. He was about twenty steps behind his partner, and he knew he couldn't lose sight of her. The suspect was armed.

They passed 54th, and 55th… they got to 82nd Street before Janko finally caught up and tackled the suspect to the ground, which was impressive considering he towered over her by about a foot. She was handcuffing him when Jamie approached, strangely out of breath.

"Good….job...partner. Now you just … sit him… on the curb… I'll … flag down...backup."

Janko knew her more seasoned partner didn't get winded often. "You ok? It was only 30 blocks." Her chuckle was almost mocking.

"Funny, rookie. I'm fine…"

"Fine" had barely gotten out of his mouth when he hit the ground. Janko swiftly handcuffed both the suspect's hands to a lamp post and ran to kneel over him, frantic. "Jamie! Jamie! Are you ok? What's wrong? Jamie!"

He couldn't answer her. He wanted to tell her he didn't know what was happening but that his chest was killing him. He could only look up at the street light and the sky. Janko searched his body with a blur of her hands, searching for blood or something to help her help him. That's when she saw the gaping hole in his uniform. The dark blood gushing out of his chest was previously masked by the dark uniform. Janko quickly tore open the buttons with a rip and her face went ashen.

"Oh my God, he shot you!"

And then the world went dark.

Frank, Danny, Erin and Henry Reagan walked down the hallways toward the OR waiting area almost as one unit. Though they were disheveled, unorganized, and desperate on the inside, their faces were serious, brows furrowed. They stopped the nurse in the hallway who was heading into an operating room.

"My son is Jamie Reagan, is he in there?" Frank's voice was low and stern.

"Yes, Commissioner. We've been expecting you."

"Well, what's his condition? Who is the surgeon? Are they doing everything they can to help him?"

The nurse sighed and looked sympathetic to Frank, but he didn't need her sympathy. He needed answers. "Jamie lost a lot of blood while pursuing the suspect. He didn't realize he'd been shot because the suspect didn't shoot him. There was an argument outside one of the stores Jamie passed in the chase, and a bullet sped through the window of the shop into Jamie's chest. His adrenaline prevented him from feeling or hearing anything, and Officer Janko was closer to the suspect than she was to Jamie so she was out of ear shot. All the running he did pumped his heart even faster, causing greater blood loss. But the doctor is working on transfusing him now. We'll update you as soon as we can."

The Reagans all watched her disappear behind the OR door and a sense of defeat washed over them. Not Jamie…. why Jamie? They'd all been shot before, even life threateningly, but this was different. Jamie was dying on that table and they all felt a little piece of themselves lose hope as the hours passed. Danny even thought, as the sun came up, maybe he was already dead and no one had the heart to tell them. Either way, they were all staying until they knew. Frank paced the floor when he couldn't sit still any longer. Erin rested her head on Danny's shoulder but couldn't sleep. Henry held his rosary in his hand and prayed through the night.

Just when the last of the sun rose above the horizon, the doctor appeared from the operating room, and he looked like a horror movie with blood all over his hands and smock. "Reagan family?"

They all stood at once and formed a cluster around the doctor, still praying silently in the depths of their souls that God wouldn't take another one from them too soon. Erin clutched her grandfather's hand. The doctor sighed.

"Jamie… lost enough blood to be fatal. He was over the 4 liter mark and he we did all the transfusions we could without causing any other damages. Commissioner, your son is a real fighter. He pulled through. We'll keep him for the week to monitor his condition and then we'll see if he's ready to go home."

There was a collective sigh of relief, and Erin collapsed against Frank, sobbing with all the emotion she'd held all night. Frank hushed her for comfort and held the back of her head. "He's still with us. Thank you, God…. Thank you." And Frank's eyes brimmed with quiet tears as well.

Later on in the afternoon, when the kids and Linda arrived right after Janko had been there to check on him, the Reagans began deciding who would go when in to see him now that he was awake. They lined up the kids first, oldest to youngest, with Nikki first, then Jack, then Sean. As Nikki went in, the adults talked amongst themselves. They all mutually agreed for Erin to go first, as she was the most visibly upset and needed the extra reassurance of seeing her youngest brother alive. Linda was volunteered to go next since she wanted to keep her visit shorter so the boys could get home before they got restless. Danny agreed and so was put next after Linda. Henry knew Frank would want a more private visit after everyone was gone so he put himself second to last.

Nikki came out as visibly upset as Aaron seeing her uncle weakened and having had death knock at his door. Jack and Sean both came out of their visits a bit more somber than usual. Linda made her visit short but had to put on a front that everything was ok with her when she rounded up the boys to go to the car, not that it was much of a fight for once. Danny tried the same front, but he didn't have much of a poker face. Grandpa went in and lingered for a while, just to let Jamie know he had a lot more to stick around for. When he came out, Frank was ready to go in but Henry put his hand up.

"Not just yet. There's someone else who just wanted to say hello first."

Henry was looking past Frank, so Frank's eyes eventually followed to a petite green eyed brunette dressed in sweats and a zip up hoodie along with sneakers, as if she'd been yanked forcibly out of bed. It was a familiar face, but one that the Reagan family, let alone Jamie hadn't seen in a while. Frank smiled, pleasantly surprised, and opened his arms to the young lady, which she walked into without hesitation.

"Dia. I can hardly believe it, all grown up."

"Good thing I still listen to the police scanners at night. I heard the call over the radio and I called your office because I didn't know if Jamie would want to hear from me, but Baker said you were already here so…"

Frank held Dia back to look at her, her eyes blotched with wetness now. "Dia, my dear, you don't need to explain anything to me when it comes to these matters. Why don't you go in now? Jamie will be happy to see you."

_Will he? _She thought as she gave Henry a quick hug before he ushered her down the hall. Jamie's room was right across from the nurses' station and when she knocked, a muffled "come in" was her response. She walked into the open area between the bed and the television, standing at the foot of Jamie's bed so he could see her clearly in the light. "Hey, Jamie…"

Jamie was taken aback literally speechless at first. It'd been 7 years since he'd seen Dia DiGiovanni, since the day she'd packed her stuff and moved out of his life to go to California for medical school. He heard from mutual friends she'd dropped out her senior year, moved back to New York and had been living upstate. He'd always meant to call her to see how she was but… he never did.

"Dia… wow. Hi… it's… it's good to see you."

Dia shrugged and half smiled. "Is it? I thought maybe you wouldn't wanna see me if I came."

Jamie shook his head and patted a spot on the bed next to him for her to sit. "Why would you think that?"

Dia shrugged and sat down gently, playing with one of the strings on her hoodie. "I figured you wouldn't wanna see the girl that made the stupidest mistake of her life that just happened to be walking out your door."

Jamie sighed. "Dia… it's ok."

She shook her head. "No it's not."

"It was a long time ago…"

"Please. I need to say this … When I moved to California, I thought it was because I was a strong, independent woman who needed to prove herself by not being tied down to anyone, not letting any man get in the way of her success. In reality … I was just afraid I would end up inevitably screwing up our relationship anyway. I thought a recovering addict like me was crazy to think I could get a guy like you, because even though you were everything I needed when I got clean, you were still a cop and I thought you'd be going against some unspoken code if we stayed together…"

Jamie put his hand over hers on the bed and squeezed it gently. "You were right about one thing…"

"What's that?"

"You are the biggest idiot ever."

There was a moment's pause and then a laugh from both of them. When they had settled again, Jamie continued. "You were the best thing that could have happened to me… and I swore I'd do everything to make us work. But I'm not blameless about your leaving. I broke that promise when people started talking. I should've stuck up for you but instead I kept my head down and a smile on. I worked longer hours to avoid fighting. Back then, I thought I was saving us … but I only ran us further into the ground. I'm sorry."

Dia broke down, her head in her hands, weeping off years of back logged regret. Jamie pulled her head into his shoulder slowly and kissed the top of her head. "Don't cry, Dia. You're here now. I'm here. It'll be ok."

Dia curled her feet up behind her and stretched them out parallel to Jamie's, laying her head into the crook of his arm, closing her eyes, and listening to the soft music of their breathing. "I love you, Jamie Reagan."

"I love you too, Dia DiGiovanni."

Jamie died in the night. The alarms literally woke Dia out of a deep sleep and she sat upright as Jamie's hand fell limp to his side. She kneeled over him and shook him frantically, to no avail. She could be heard screaming down the halls, trying to wake him up, trying to make him come back.

"Jamie! Jamie no! I'm sorry, please come back!"

But he was gone. His spot at Sunday dinner stayed empty. His partner drove around in the near empty car. There was an eerie silence when someone almost said his name. Eventually, as time went on, Jamie's picture went on the mantle beside Joe's along with his medals post mortem. But with two members gone too early, and the patriarch of the Reagan children losing faith in good ...

it would take a miracle to piece the Reagans back together again.

Luckily, it came 9 months later when this time Dia went into the hospital. And he was named Jamison Joseph Reagan. But familiarly, Jamie Jr. :)


End file.
